Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Wintrust Investments LLC

Wintrust Investments LLC lowered its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 55.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,304 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,877 shares during the quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $136,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $132,000. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $502,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $60.46 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $240.53 billion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company also offers switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching; enterprise routing portfolio interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure, and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks; wireless products include wireless access points and controllers; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization.